Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1887-03-30

a little, white-wood table took up all
the room. ate at table with the six
choir children and an able, who taught
them. 1t was agreed. that when the
able should be indisposed, or called
away to the Bishop, or occupied with
his examinations for the seminary,
should replace him. In this way / paid
but twenty-five francs a month, every
thing compriscd; and as had no tu-
ition to pay, my yearly budget was
very small. My chief prooccupation
was my dress. Nine. La Normande
had all the trouble in the world to piece
1t and to patch itup; and as was only
fifteen | grew constantly away from
her kindly efforts. AS for pocket
money l never had any and never
felt the need of it. To let you
into my whole secret" continues
M. Simon, ''the two hundred and
fifty or three hundred francs year
which had to pay was not
easy to find. The sum certainly was
not large, but l had nobody in the
world whom l could count upon. Hap
PLY for me, in this odd-littlc school
world, the pupils in the upper classes
were in the habit of giving lessons to
those beginning. This helped the big
boys to live, and did not cost the little
boys very dear. For three francs a
month we gave lesson every day,
even on Thursdays. This brought the
price down to two sous per hour. had
eight pupils, thanks to the kindness of
my professor. gave my first lesson
in the morning from half-past six to
eight, and the other in the evening
from six to seven. In the winter used
to go to my school-room with my little
lantern and thin coat on, which pro-
tected neither from the cold nor from
the rain. My eight lessons gave me
but twenty-four francs, which left me
one franc per month behind with my
landlady. This debt caused me most
cruel suffcrings in mind, but after the
| distribution of prizes, where l took
without exception all the first prizes, for
was what was called fort en- theme, the
council of our department made me a
present of two hundred francs. / was
now rich in my turn. / therefore paid
the few francs which l owed my
hostess, bought decent coat of real
broadcloth, and some shoes, which
| 10 ha cd
and at last tasted the exquisite de-
light of having my own textbooks in
stead of using the dirty and dog-eared
volumes belonging to the college,"
M. Simon says that he has never told
the story before, and he only tells it
now because it illustrates the customs
of little school-boy in France fifty-six
years ago. In 1872, when he was
| Minister of Public Instruction, he one
day received the visit of the members
of the University. The rector of the
Academy of Paris presented to him
his different inspectors. Meantime M.
Simon saw one who was apparently
very anxious to speak with him, but
whose features he could not recall to
mind. So the rector said: This is a
gentleman to whom you gave lessons
when you were both at the College OF
Vannes. Eyes, and for three francs
months" said NJ. Simon, holding
out his hand to his ex-pupil. IL was
delighted to meet him." he adds, "be-
cause he was one of my favorite pu-
pills, and stayed by me to the end OF
my philosophy year"
These small details are not of SO much
interest as those which show how COM
| pletely desert and barren was the edu-
cation given at the college which Ma
poleon /. had greatly interested himself
in, and which he thought was model
institution. The events of 1914 had
taken the Emperor's attention away
from this college, and at the time M.
Simon was scholar there the walls OF
an imperious building which had arisen
only half way showed that politics had
interfered with the cause of public in
struction. Behind this new ruin was a
vast court, usually very dirty, and lined
on either side by the really fine build
ings of the old Jesuit College, in which
| were the classes of scholars. Their
study rooms were suite of immense
halls lighted on one side from the
court, OH the other from the fields.
The walls were covered with damp and
| with dirt. In the middle of the hall
there was II beam. badly hewn,
which supported the ceiling.
Wooden benches with little backs
were placed against the four
walls. There were neither tables nor
desks, and they all wrote their dictees
upon their knees. The professor S
little pulpit was facing the door. He
climbed up to it by a ladder with eight
or ten rungs. The regent, as the
teacher was called, thus appeared as il
he were struggling out of the top of a
| barrel There was neither stove nor
chimney in the whole building. The
cold in these stone halls with their rat
Ting windows was sometimes SO in
tense that the scholars could not hold
their pens. On such occasions the
master or the regent raped three
times on his desk in the very midst OF
tho exercises. This was the signal for
the scholars to rise and run round hard
in procession until they got warm
| .Ats -. l. l.
and danced round about the badly
hewn beam. At the end of quarter
of an hour, having re-cstablished the
circulation. three new raps brought
them back to their dctces. Even when
the snow was deep in the courtyard
and the cold was intense they were
healthy and happy.
| nj. Simon says the scholars learned
| liffla ~ nnthin.x a. -